THE HANGOVER REPORT – A mixed bag of new works by Kyle Abraham, Justin Peck, and Gianna Reisen make their debuts at City Ballet’s FALL FASHION GALA

Emilie Gerrity and Chun Wai Chan (foreground) perform in George Balanchine’s “Symphony in C” during New York City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala at the David H. Koch Theater (photo by Julieta Cervantes).

This past Wednesday, New York City Ballet’s annual Fall Fashion Gala – which this year marked its landmark tenth anniversary – came and went at the David H. Koch Theater, bringing with it a trio of new works. Historically, the new pieces (which feature costumes by designers from the fashion world) that have accompanied the glamorous event have been a mixed bag, and the same could be said of this year’s crop. As an appetizer, the evening commenced in tried and true fashion with the rousing fourth movement and finale of George Balanchine’s Symphony in C (the entirety of the classic ballet will be performed during the rest of the fall season). Especially sparkling in the excerpt at the gala performance were Megan Fairchild (taking over for Ashley Bouder) and newly promoted principal Chun Wai Chan.

After some speeches (sadly, City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala mastermind Sarah Jessica Parker was unable to delivers hers due to a last minute family emergency) and a couple of promotional videos, the program continued with the anticipated new ballets. First off was Gianna Reisen’s Play Time, undoubtedly the evening’s most enticing draw and perhaps its biggest disappointment. Set to a jazzy orchestral score by none other than pop superstar Solange Knowles, Ms. Reisen’s choreography seemed tentative and colorless, in contrast to the bedazzled color coded costumes by designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo for Palomo Spain. If anything, Reisen seemed to be at a loss as to how to handle the lack of tension in Knowles’s laxly structured score and the apparent physical restrictiveness of Palomo’s retro-futuristic costumes. The bill of new works continued with sleek principal Anthony Huxley dancing Justin Peck’s brief Solo set to Barber’s ubiquitous Adagio for Strings. First seen in film format during the pandemic (directed by Sofia Coppola), the piece is somber and stoic – a refreshing departure for Peck, even if Huxley’s understated yet stylish performance somewhat got lost on the large Koch stage.

In my opinion, coming off best was Kyle Abraham’s Love Letter (on shuffle), which closed the evening in deeply introspective fashion. At first glance, the work comes across like an underpowered version of Abraham’s brash ballet The Runaway, which the choreographer created for the 2018 Fall Fashion Gala. His latest begins murkily (Giles Deacon’s muddled patchwork costumes don’t help matters much) and continues down the same path, until it doesn’t. About two-thirds of the way through, the piece began to click for me, and Abraham’s larger picture began to emerge – an ambitious, intensely personal centuries spanning meditation on love and loss set to the moody pop songs of James Blake. The work is not perfect by any means; Love Letter is insistently episodic and often jarringly uneven. That being said, it’s a work that comes from the soul of a true artist, and its emotional payoff – if you stick with it – is considerable.

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NEW YORK CITY BALLET: FALL FASHION GALA
Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Approximately 2 hours (without an intermission)
City Ballet’s fall season continues through October 16

Categories: Dance

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